Racist Yik Yak posts considered 'hate speech' by Syracuse

When JaShel Jones graduates from Syracuse University this weekend, she’ll be leaving a campus where she’s witnessed racism.

Last week, someone posted on Yik Yak — an anonymous social media app — complaining about a step show outside of a library on Syracuse University’s quad. The thread of posts continued and referred to the participating students as “monkeys.”

The posts were captured and shared on other digital outlets, prompting responses from both the chancellor of the university and the dean of student affairs.

“There’s a long history of people being dehumanized and being called monkeys and that analogy really stems from the root of racism,” Olivia Johnson, president of SU’s chapter of the NAACP, says. “To think that hundreds of years later people are still being referred to as that really shows that the country hasn’t gone as far as you think.”

In an e-mail to the student body, Chancellor Kent Syverud noted the struggles occurring in Baltimore before stating that university has its own work to do.

“Recent events have sparked harmful dialogue on social media channels that does not reflect our core values as an open and inclusive community,” Syverud wrote. “As I have indicated before, it is very important for an academic institution to support free speech. However, Syracuse University does not condone hate speech of any kind, whether in-person or via social media, anonymous or identified.”

Members of organizations on campus, however, say the e-mail isn’t enough.

For Jones, however, the e-mails brought attention to the issues, but no action. The dean of student affairs and director of the office of multicultural affairs sent a joint e-mail to the student body standing by the chancellor on Monday, May 4.

“Student Affairs is designing a training series for student leaders, and will spend the summer engaging our own staff in additional diversity and inclusion training,” they wrote.

And though the e-mail mentioned the school’s Stop Bias website students can use to report racist remarks and hate speech, members of organizations believe on campus dialogue is necessary.

“I think it would help if we have inter-council programs and discussion,” Jones, who is vice president of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, says.

While members of different organizations agree that dialogue is necessary, Rodgers notes that it can’t only be those coming from the minority community on campus.

“We need to embody the change we want to see and be mindful of the words we use and how they [impact] other people,” she says.

Though the Yaks were posted in response to the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organization’s (NALFO) “Stomp the Quad” event, the group won’t let the remarks affect it.

“It took a lot of time and planning to have the event and it hurts knowing all the hard work was tarnished by that,” Andres Rivera, president of NALFO, says. “NALFO as a whole understands that this happens but it isn’t in any way going to alienate us from the campus. Our organization was created to help combat issues like this.”

The Office of Multicultural Affairs did not return calls to comment on this situation.

Meghan Mistry is a student at Syracuse University and a summer 2015 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent.